Monster Jam comes to Portland for Valentine’s Day weekend

Charles Benns crushes cars for kids. Benns is one of eight monster truck drivers who will be battling it out at the Rose Garden this weekend in the Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam, a high-flying, metal crunching competition that puts speed, power and destruction on display.

Monster Jam will run three shows in Portland over the weekend, two on Saturday and one on Sunday afternoon. The shows are all part of the annual competitive season that runs for 12 weeks, touring the country January through March and culminating in the Monster Jam World Finals in Las Vegas.

“It’s big on adrenaline, that’s for sure,” Benns said.

For Benns, a real estate broker, six-year monster truck veteran and father of two teenage boys, climbing behind the wheel of a 12-foot-tall supercharged beast is about much more than a simple adrenaline rush. Benns donates 100 percent of his Monster Jam profits to Carrie Tingley Children’s Hospital in his hometown of Albuquerque, N.M.

“I get to live my dreams, act like a fool and help out kids,” Benns said with a smile. “I thank God every day.”

“Although, it would be untruthful if I didn’t say I was out there to win every time,” Benns admits. “I want to be the fastest guy, and I want to show the crowd that I’m the craziest guy out there and willing to take risks that other people won’t. I take my own caution and throw it to the wind.”

The Monster Jam comprises three events: timed racing, a wheelie contest and freestyle driving.

For the racing portion, trucks compete for the fastest time on the course, with speeds often reaching 70 mph. The 10,000-pound machines then fly into the air during the wheelie contest, using cars as their launching pads.

“Hitting the [gas] while trying to get the best angle, line and speed,” Benns explained. “Literally, a perfect sky-wheelie is an art of timing, power and everything coming together at the perfect moment.”

The event that most fans come to see, however, is the freestyle competition. It is here that drivers are given 60 seconds to reach into their bag of tricks and do everything they can to impress the judges and fans.

“Freestyle is why I would buy a ticket as a fan,” Benns said. “And the people in the crowd are the ones who really tell us if we win or not, or if we’re any good.”

Benns says the whole reason he drives is for the people, and he understands what just a few hours of fun and distraction can be in someone’s life.

Before getting involved with monster trucks, Benns took a social science class in college that, much to his dismay at the time, required students to volunteer at a charity for the semester. Benns reluctantly found his way to a small children’s hospital close to campus, and it was there that Benns says the lights were “turned on” for him as a young man.

“I was such a complainer [back then],” Benns admits. “I would punch myself in the nose if I met that person now.”

Benns says he was introduced to a boy at the children’s hospital who had been paralyzed from the waist down from a car crash. Forced to be away from his family in order to get the medical attention and rehabilitation that he needed, the boy was spending most of his time alone, laid up in his hospital bed.

After meeting the boy, who he simply refers to as Mikey, Benns said his heart broke and what began as a semester project became daily visits for the next 8 months.

“[Mikey] not only had to adjust to life in a wheelchair, but he also had to learn how to deal with and manage pain at an incredibly young age,” Benns said. “It changed my entire perspective. I tried to never complain about anything in my life again.”

Today, Benns donates his Monster Jam profits to charity and does work at different children’s hospitals throughout the country as he travels on tour. Benns works with Locks of Love, an organization that makes high-end hairpieces for kids recovering from chemotherapy. The organization takes donations of 10-inches of hair to use for the wigs, so each year Benns grows out his hair in order to donate.

“My hair grows really fast,” said Bennes, whose hair currently hangs halfway down his back. “So I’m just borrowing [the hair] for a little kid somewhere, that’s the way I see it.”

When asked what motivates him to invest so much of his time in others, Benns responds quickly and with a chuckle: “I do it for the most selfish reason in the world: It makes me feel great.”

On Saturday, fans can meet Benns and the other drivers as well as get a chance to see the monster trucks up close at the Party in the Pit pre-show from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday also features two Monster Jam shows, set for 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., and Sunday the Monster Jam weekend will come to a crushing close after the 2 p.m. show.

Coming off his first win of the 2011 season, Benns reminds those who think of him as a humanitarian to not forget his passion for extreme sports and monster trucks.

“When I put that helmet on,” Benns said. “I turn into a nut.” ?